Srecko Ferencak of the Croatian People's Party/Primorje-Gorski Kotar Alliance (HNS/PGS) criticised the Ministry of War Veterans for being unorganised and inefficient and for failing to provide for the real needs of the veterans and their families. He said that only three percent of the ministry's funds had been set aside for the veterans' most basic needs such as housing and employment.
Veterans Minister Jadranka Kosor dismissed the criticism, saying that the former coalition government, which also included the HNS, had restricted the veterans' rights and treated veterans as suspects and frauds. She also said that the former government had not left the incumbent government any housing project and that it had failed to complete the construction of flats started by the previous HDZ-led government, as well as that the construction works had been carried out poorly.
Some opposition deputies criticised the ministry for the bad situation at Croatian universities, which they said was the result of a decision to grant children of war veterans privileged status at enrollment.
Josip Djakic of the HDZ responded by saying that those opposed to the said decision were also opposed to the Croatian state and that nobody had the right to question the right of war veterans' and disabled people's children to be given privileged treatment when enrolling at faculties.
Pero Kovacevic of the Party of Rights (HSP) asked Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks to prevent deputies from conducting "futile discussions" on the matter, saying that veterans were sending him SMS messages and voicing their dissatisfaction with the course of the debate.
Seks said that a device would probably be installed in the parliament chamber to prevent the use of mobile phones.
Deputies temporarily discontinued the debate to hear an address by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on the government's position on Tuesday's decision by the Slovene parliament to declare a protected ecological zone and a continental shelf in the Adriatic.